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To finish this lengthy collection of posts, some dialogue factors on helicopter transportable autos and gear.
Can the British Military and Royal Marines Align?
Who would use these kinds of autos and gear?
Joking apart, the probably person group will embrace the Royal Marines, 16 Air Assault Brigade, Particular Forces, and the Military Particular Operations Brigade.
Wherever doable, this group ought to actively hunt down alternatives to take advantage of widespread necessities with widespread gear however commonality for its personal sake shouldn’t be pursued.
Each helicopters can function from ships (though Merlin is a lot better on this), and each helicopters can be utilized by any group, however the chances are high that the Royal Marines will use Merlin greater than Chinook, and the Military, the inverse.
Aside from this, necessities might diverge to a degree the place commonality works towards goals.
Military customers might even see A400M/C17 density and heavier shops as extra necessary than with the ability to function from a Littoral Strike Ship or plane service.
Whether or not by chance or design, most person teams appear to be shifting to twelve-person groups.
Sustaining these groups for 12 days at 200 nautical miles from the ship or working base is one other related and customary objective
Aggregating these groups, six per squadron/firm, with three squadron/firms per battlegroup, joined by help and HQ squadron/firm generates a battlegroup of roughly 350 to 400 personnel, relying on how heavy the help and HQ perform is. These may be rotated at readiness, and sustainable.
Organisational design tends to floor alternatives for commonality so regardless of every person group having their necessities and a few present programme momentum, we might find yourself with gear that can be utilized by all.
I reside in hope.
The Magic Quantity, Past 1.6m Vast
As you push out past 1.6m huge for a single automobile two issues occur.
First; Loading and unloading turns into slower, this exposes the helicopter when it’s on the bottom and means these doing the loading and unloading would possibly discover it troublesome to exit the automobile safely. Tie-down additionally turns into tougher, all the pieces simply will get more durable and slower, much less operable.
Second; Autos change into dangerously shut (from a finances and programme perspective) to normal utility varieties. If we’re changing Land Rover with a pickup-derived design, and they’re about 1.8m huge, what position do specialist autos on the similar width have? Can we justify a automobile with such a distinct segment position when it’s inside inches (actually) of the automobile that might be bought by the thousand?
I can see the Royal Marine’s rationale for buying MRZR, it neatly avoids these two pitfalls.
Because of this I don’t suppose there’s a lot mileage in pursuing autos except they’re a part of a wider programme, e.g. Land Rover substitute, except they’ve distinctive qualities corresponding to very excessive ranges of mobility, are slender on the hips, or have specialist roles like towing a GMLRS trailer.
The extra a automobile seems like a future Land Rover substitute, the much less justification it has to attract on the scarce defence finances.
Threat Acceptance
How a lot threat is defence prepared to just accept?
In an age of armed FPVs, guided missiles and pervasive surveillance, is it acceptable to convey into service autos with out lively or passive safety?
One of many apparent trade-offs compelled by small measurement and decrease weights is that almost all of autos described are with none technique of armour, lively defensive programs, and even ECM.
Small measurement, terrain accessibility, pace and low signatures additionally contribute to safety however this solely goes thus far and there must be acknowledgement of the elevated threat in comparison with the extremes of CR3 and Mastiff.
Not entering into fights with enemy autos on their turf can be the best contribution to automobile and crew security, this is the reason I don’t like the concept of mounting automated weapons on them.
I are likely to see these autos purely as transport, not combating or patrol autos, bereft of armour and armaments, the folks they carry are what makes a distinction.
Threat acceptable can be a think about particular features of auto design and choice, seating particularly.
It would look like a philosophical query however now we have to resolve what a seat is!
These are seats.
And so are these
Lots of the autos within the earlier posts make use of bench seating with easy lap belts, and these could also be completely acceptable at low speeds and in a civilian context, however are they acceptable for a standards-compliant navy automobile? #
This issues so much when you find yourself coping with dimensional constraints and attempting to maximise seating density, and that’s earlier than we even get into the topic of passenger-carrying trailers.
I don’t remark both manner, besides to watch that density and carriage might be greater with easy seating and lap belts than with three-point harnesses, crashworthy seating and stuck rollover safety.
UK Industrial Issues
Typically, I’m all the time going to favour British trade, and I make no apologies for this.
Lots of the autos we appear to be taking a look at are on the finish of US, Canadian and German provide chains.
I get the method that drives this, and I get that the big defence primes will all the time have a bonus, but when the Land Industrial Technique is extra than simply phrases, I merely don’t settle for the logic of paying German or US primes to develop Canadian autos when now we have UK SMEs like AVT, DCE, and Supacat.
The ‘course of’ could be a sound purpose however it’s not a suitable excuse and we have to do higher with hard-earned public funds.
The Enormous Potential of UGVs
RANG-R isn’t a civilian automobile conversion, it has been designed from the outset with defence customers in thoughts.
It’s nicely protected and resilient, and scaled for a spread of payloads that go manner past fundamental load carriage corresponding to EOD and route clearance, together with people who want hydraulics.
Viking can be designed from the bottom up, they usually each have a flat load mattress that’s suited to adaptability for carrying sensor and weapon payloads.
RANG-R can even have further ballistic and mine safety added, and each Viking and RANG-R have probably shorter provide chains and better UK industrial participation than others.
They each have utility throughout 1 DIV and three DIV and with some coordination, throughout the Royal Marines and different customers.
I’m much less satisfied of their worth for a easy platoon or workforce load carrying, their payload-to-kerb weight ratio tends to be decrease and provides lots of value and complexity to what may be delivered with easy and low-cost crewed autos.
The place they’ve huge potential is precisely this state of affairs, not having any personnel on the bottom concerned in any respect.
State of affairs 1
4 Merlin helicopters fly from the deck of a Future Littoral Strike Ship over the horizon to a distant location. After touchdown, they disembark 4 IDV Vikings, every with a Trakkon RWS, 30mm AEI Venom cannon. A small workforce conducts checks and arms the cannon, returning to the Strike Ship with the helicopters.
The autos transfer silently to their last areas out of earshot and radar detection of the helicopter touchdown web site, some 100km away.
Three taking on positions 2km away, overlooking a street choke level they go into overwatch mode, ready for a ground-launched ballistic missile convoy that intelligence sources had indicated would move by within the subsequent 48 hours.
The opposite exploits the terrain to keep away from detection and stays as a reserve.
When the convoy does arrive, placing it merely, it will get detected and brassed up by three 30mm cannons, and that was that for the convoy.
State of affairs 2
A second state of affairs sees 4 Chinook take off from a ahead working base, every loaded with Aardvark RANG-R UGVs. Their mission is to arrange a helicopter touchdown web site close to an open-cast coal mine for a multinational air cell pressure arriving inside 48 hours.
Touchdown on an entry street some 20km away, the primary Chinook has three RANG-R with floor clearance blades and manipulator arms. Upon leaving the plane they transfer to mine and start clearing obstacles and unexploded ordnance left over from a latest battle.
The second and third Chinook every have two RANG-R, every carrying two 1,000L IBC containers of pre-diluted Envirotec ‘Rhino Snot’ mud stabilisation resolution and a sprig head. They arrive on the cleared web site and start spraying the realm, in preparation for the touchdown pressure.
The final of the 4 Chinooks has two RANG-R, one geared up with a tethered UAS and the opposite a C-UAS package deal of radar and a 30mm automated cannon. The tethered UAS deploys and relays situational consciousness data to HQ while the Rhino Snot is curing, the C-UAS supplies overwatch.
Two days later the advance pressure arrives.
Each of those situations would possibly take a number of leaps of expertise readiness however hopefully, you possibly can see the potential, and potential may be enhanced by ensuring any future UGVs match nicely inside our two help helicopters.
The Lengthy Arm of GMLRS*
*Different missiles can be found
We’ve got principally mentioned how for small groups we will prolong the size of their legs, and within the weapons sections, I touched on extending the size of their clenched fists.
With out discounting the consequences that small groups can convey to bear, giving that very same workforce entry to longer-range weapons brings them into the ‘strategically necessary’ class.
If I had been the Royal Marines or Parachute Regiment, all the time below risk of disbandment or discount, I might be considering past being the very best gentle infantry raiding and speedy response forces.
The desk beneath supplies an approximate comparability.
While RM-centric, this paper from RUSI makes the case for longer-range weapons.
Integration challenges shouldn’t be underestimated however no less than bodily, there aren’t any explanation why a trailer-based single missile or pod launcher can’t be developed that makes use of in-service complicated weapons, or that that we plan to convey into service.
Even with shorter-range programs corresponding to Javelin, Brimstone and Exactor, a small workforce may ship a disproportionate impact, particularly when utilizing non-line-of-sight weapons, an anti-armour blocking pressure for instance (shades of 24 Airmobile).
Might we Stretch to Air Cell Cavalry?
Aside from the Flyer and RANG-R, not one of many autos described within the collection has any safety.
Aside from the UGVs, none of them has any type of mounted direct-fire weapons both.
It is a good factor.
It discourages them from being seen as combating or patrol autos, only a technique of shifting folks and issues from A to B.
A query arises, can we stretch assets to construct a real airmobile cavalry pressure to do cavalry issues?
There are few automobile decisions, maybe just one or two.
Though not in manufacturing, it’s nonetheless value highlighting that some Wiesel variants may match inside a Chinook.
Not a simple match, however the RAF has achieved it with Chinook.
Relying on the mannequin, Wiesel 2 (with the additional roadwheel) would additionally match.
Its substitute, the Luftbeweglichen Waffenträger (Airmobile Weapon Service) or LuWa, is within the early idea and analysis stage.
One potential contender, from ACS, Valhalla and FFG, is an interesting-looking automobile.
LuWa is being designed for the CH-53 successor in German service, the Chinook, with kneeling suspension that brings peak right down to 1.85m.
So if we wished to generate an airmobile cavalry pressure, a joint improvement with Germany would provide a path
One to contemplate.
Received’t Somebody Consider Sustainment
For instance my level, that 1m sq. pallet beneath has a complete of 9 NLAW, a couple of minutes work for a 12-person raiding workforce.
The publicly launched imagery of present autos tends towards the combating component, it’s public relations in any case.
Pallets of ammunition, stretchers and jerrycans of water and gas aren’t that photogenic so not often get a glance in.
Everybody is aware of they can’t be ignored.
However I might ask a query, does that data of the particular payloads required to maintain even small groups translate into necessities?
Maybe rotary or fixed-wing UAS will assist ameliorate the issue, or air despatch from fixed-wing plane, however even the heavy raise UAS being demonstrated beneath solely has a most vary of 70km and a most payload of 70kg. They’ll do a number of spherical journeys or work in parallel with others however spherical journey delay and detectability imply that they could be the overall resolution.
Maybe extra necessary than easy shops weight is shops quantity.
Fashionable communication gear, sensors, UAS, defence shops, and different gear are carried within the ubiquitous Peli, Zarges, and Amazon circumstances.
Complicated weapons are available in particular to contents containers that add weight and bulk to the datasheet weights.
As you possibly can in all probability think about, I believe we must always give attention to carried weights and loadbed measurement a bit of extra in automobile choice.
Terrain Accessibility isn’t a unclean phrase
OK, it’s two phrases!
One of many points I can see with present approaches is mobility, particularly in snow and poor soils, the type of terrain discovered within the Excessive North and different areas.
It’s not past the realms of fantasy that future operations could also be performed within the Excessive North and or areas of deep snow, Muskeg/Taiga and many mud.
Excessive mobility necessities would are likely to swing choice to tracks or multi-axle skid steers however none of the present dialogue on this topic appears to be aware of such greater mobility necessities, specializing in pace on well-found tracks and dry floor.
This isn’t a criticism however an statement.
If the Royal Marines need to keep one in every of their distinctive promoting factors, littoral manoeuvre, they need to be wanting past MRZR and into small hovercraft, inflatable touchdown craft, over-snow and excessive mobility autos that not solely permit them to take advantage of their Merlin helicopter fleet, but in addition transfer throughout ice, estuaries, snow, tidal zones, and tender floor up north.
The identical statement applies to the 16 Air Assault Brigade, though maybe much less of the littoral, however nonetheless an statement about mobility, particularly given the probably lack of natural mobility help.
There may be extra to life than helicopters
Though this collection is about helicopter inside carriage and the first constraining of inside dimensions, different components could be thought-about.
One of many key UK necessities for A400M was that it may settle for three Land Rover Defender 110s with trailers two abreast.
The 110 Defender is a shade below 1.8m huge.
In case you are 16 Air Assault Brigade, that is necessary, it’s particularly necessary if you’re out there for a Defender substitute. It’s vitally necessary that any Defender substitute, just like the Babcock GLV (and others), is lower than 1.8m huge as a result of not solely does it permit for Chinook inside carriage it permits a dense load in an A400M.
A400M dimensional optimisation is especially necessary given it is going to be (when availability is sorted) the first plane for shifting 16AAB and an Air Manoeuvre Process Power.
463L pallet and C-17 compatibility may also be a part of the choice matrix for the Military however maybe much less so for the Royal Marines.
Driving licences and coaching demand are all the time a consideration, roadworthiness and gas utilization, maybe even the 2m ramp width and six-tonne payload of a Touchdown Craft Car Personnel (LCVP) Mk5, 5.8m size and a couple of.34m width of a 20ft ISO container, the 4.9m size of a two module ATAX air despatch platform, and even the inner dimensions of a ULD container than can go in a Voyager decrease deck maintain.
Even perhaps with the ability to match a automobile on a VRA rack could be thought-about necessary for deployability.
That is the type of factor that makes discovering dimensional compatibility for a globally deployable pressure so difficult.
Current Programmes and Present Decisions
Some present programmes bisect any notional requirement for helicopter transportable autos.
The Royal Marines have been attempting a number of completely different choices in the previous couple of years, from the Polaris Dagor to the three-axle Quad ATV, and extra not too long ago appear to have settled on the Polaris MRZR as a baseline, with a handful of Path A distant and autonomous kits thrown in.
The British Military is taking a look at choices through a Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) for the Low Expertise Mobility Platform (LTMP) Medium and Low Expertise Mobility Platform (LTMP) Gentle necessities so it appears regardless of persevering with to reside within the hope {that a} joint requirement would possibly emerge, that appears off the playing cards.
A bit extra element right here
There are numerous programmes investigating choices for distant and autonomous autos, and never simply the upper profile ones like robotic platoon autos, the varied spirals exploring weapons and sensors, ‘thoughts the hole’ and CBRN recce initiatives, and final mile resupply.
Collectively, there’s lots of funding and analysis effort going into UGVs/
Even Future Medium Helicopter might have some necessities for small automobile underslung hundreds.
Standouts and the Highway Much less Travelled
Autos just like the Polaris MRZR are easy to specify, and even construct necessities round (for instance, the LTMP specifies fairly a low payload that appears suspiciously just like the MRZR) as a result of they exist in an present ecosystem and person base of NATO customers.
If the US has bought a automobile already, it’s a lot simpler to buy than undergo the associated fee and energy to make sure compliance, particularly if a UK SME or organisation unfamiliar with defence is concerned.
These SMEs may also make a judgement that the return isn’t value the associated fee and time to try to contract with the MoD, it’s notoriously troublesome to take care of.
We will rightly complain about this state of affairs, however defence customers must reside inside a set of processes not of their making.
Being compliant with varied DEFSTANs and having navy person necessities comes at a value, merely evaluating an MRZR value at £40-75k versus any of the civilian UTV fashions proven within the earlier posts at £15-25k demonstrates the variations.
We would joke about the price of a tin of inexperienced paint however it’s greater than that, defence must be interested by the associated fee differentials, and about accepting design and functionality compromise.
The trail of least resistance would possibly imply restricted decisions, nevertheless it additionally ends in autos getting into service.
That mentioned, a handful of autos did stand out.
Rokon bikes
Not simply due to their ruggedness and terrain accessibility, but in addition due to their towing and load-carrying capacities. I additionally notably like the short connect sidecar. It’s simple to dismiss this however working throughout the house and payload constraints, the mix is definitely close to the highest for house effectivity.
I don’t doubt only a few will agree, however the numbers don’t lie, though the fundamental numbers aren’t the one factor that issues.
Fresia F-18
Unsure what a lot I can say about this, how a few slower two-seat quad with monumental carrying and towing capability, hydraulic export, and two-wheeled steering.
its measurement makes it notably environment friendly for carriage in small areas.
Bale Defence RTV from Australia
Efficiency is great and it appears a really well-considered design, however it is just out there in a 2-seat model, which oddly, makes it much less environment friendly for filling the finite house of a helicopter. And this brings me to the fourth standout.
Polaris MRZR Alpha
The Alpha collection is a real enchancment over the usual MRZR and can be out there in a four-seat model. They fill the house and supply significantly higher personnel and cargo carriage given a restricted variety of helicopters. If the Royal Marines had been on the lookout for an improve, they may do so much worse.
Goldoni and Carron agricultural carriers
Chugging alongside and 30kph in what’s a glorified tractor may not look like an act of battle however as with the Rokon, the numbers don’t lie. If we’re inquisitive about loadbed house for cumbersome shops, and payload capability for heavy hundreds, nothing genuinely comes shut.
It will take a courageous defence organisation to purchase a number of and check out them out, however possibly attempting them with lifelike hundreds would possibly wipe the smile off the naysayer’s faces?
Alpina Sherpa
For deep snow and towing sleds, while carrying 5 folks, it appears supreme. If we may settle for folks carrying trailers/sleds, this would supply a superb technique of shifting personnel over vital distances.
Aardvark RANG-R
Resulting from its dimensions and carrying/towing capacities, along with having a hybrid energy pack and clear flat high, it has glorious potential.
Add within the safety towards small arms, mines and fragmentation, and the power to make use of hydraulic attachments, it seems glorious.
For the lifetime of me, I can’t see why the Military isn’t throughout this automobile like a rash, oh, it’s British, perceive now.
AVT Minerva
Its load-carrying and towing capability, normal modernity, hydraulics, and glorious amphibious functionality characterise it as a successor to the still-mighty Supacat ATMP.
MTT-154
Examine it to see why, after which think about how excessive you possibly can stack them.
Last Ideas
There aren’t any ‘finest autos’, merely an limitless procession of trade-offs and compromises that all the time level to ‘what do you need to do’ arguments.
There may be potential to do extra; and spend extra, however regardless of their comparatively low numbers and small prices they’d nonetheless must compete with different defence wants in a world of finite budgets.
Increasing capabilities and including worth appears to me to be elementary to the continued existence of their probably customers, and these could be one in every of many instruments they may use to do this.
And I do know you all need a kind of folding mini scooters.
See you within the feedback.
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